


Cotton Candy Clouds

by greeneggs101



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Kiki's Delivery Service inspired, M/M, Pre-Relationship, khghiblifest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:08:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25776427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeneggs101/pseuds/greeneggs101
Summary: Riku's struggling to find his passion for flying again, but can Sora help him reignite his spark?
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 43
Collections: write to my heart





	Cotton Candy Clouds

**Author's Note:**

> A fic that's a little more than a drabble, but probably not gonna become any longer. Written both for Write to my Heart shiritori challenge and the khghiblifest on twitter (@khghiblifest). Inspired by Kiki's Delivery Service, which is becoming more and more relatable the older I get...

“True love’s kiss?” Riku wrinkled his brow. The words didn’t quite make sense. “How is that supposed to break a curse? You need a counter-curse spell and maybe an antidote but some kiss isn’t—” 

Sora laughed, nudging Riku’s shoulder with his own. “It’s just a story, Riku. The princess saves the earthbound prince with a kiss and they fly away together. Like a fairy tale.” 

Riku skimmed through the story again. “But there aren’t any fairies either.” 

To his surprise, Sora erupted into laughter, leaning heavily into him. 

Riku found his face heating up, not sure if Sora was laughing with him or at him. Gently, he closed the book — Sora’s prized childhood possession — and sat it on the nightstand. “I appreciate the gift, but I’m not sure if—” 

A loud screech from above interrupted Riku’s words. Glancing up, he spotted Komory wrapping her wings around herself tighter, glaring down at Riku, though not saying a word. Riku’s frown deepened. Komory hadn’t spoken to him since that night in the rain, and with every minute seemed to be turning more and more into an actual bat instead of Riku’s witch familiar. It worried him… was it because he lost his passion and ability to fly and that’s was what made him… him?

“Ohh, sorry Komory,” Sora cooed, standing on Riku’s bed so he could gently pet her soft ears. “Did we wake you?” 

Komory chirped quietly, and Riku almost thought he heard agreement in her tone but…

“C’mon, let’s go for a walk!” Sora said, jumping off the bed and holding out his hand. “I want to show you something!” 

Hesitantly, Riku took Sora’s hand. It was warm and soft, and he felt the same sort of satisfaction as when two puzzle pieces finally snapped together, forming a bigger picture. 

It felt right to hold Sora’s hand. 

Together, they left Riku’s apartment above the bakery, waving at Mickey and Minnie as they laid out that day’s fresh bread. Riku’s hand never left Sora’s and Sora didn’t mention it as they strolled down the busy streets, packed with men and women on the way to market and work, while children ran down the sidewalks with barely a care. 

It was so different than the island Riku had grown up on. His mother had landed there when she had been Riku’s age, ready to settle down and start her witchcraft somewhere quiet. But Riku had ached for someplace far away from the boring life on the islands where the most exciting uses for witchcraft were potions for Mrs. Pendragon’s arthritis. 

And yet, now he almost wished for home and his mother’s potions lessons. He didn’t pay enough attention, and if his flight magic was never going to work again—

“Riku… you okay?” 

Riku glanced up, finding his vision slightly hazy with tears, embarrassed he quickly wiped them away. “Yeah… just a bit homesick. I guess.” 

“Hmm…” Sora offered him a warm smile. “Tell me about it then, the witch who fell from the stars.” 

Riku laughed, “I told you, I didn’t fall. I just wasn’t expecting that wind.” 

“You nearly landed on the pavement all the same.” 

With another laugh, Riku told Sora all about the islands, the sounds of the ocean waves, and the smell of ripe paopu. Of the uncomfortable feeling of sand getting everywhere, but also of lazy days spent sleeping on the beach. Sora looked a little wistful of that last point and Riku called him a sleepy head. 

“And what about the flight over here,” Sora asked, looking up at the blue sky in awe. “What’s it like to see the city from above? Or to pass through a cloud? Are they fluffy like cotton candy?” 

Riku shook his head, “They’re mostly just damp. Like ocean mist.” 

Sora deflated, evidently put out that his dreams of cotton candy clouds were not meant to be. “Well… I’m still gonna see it one day. We’ll be flying buddies!”

“Oh?”

“Yeah! That’s what I wanted to show you. The day you got sick in the rain, come on!” 

Sora took his hand once more and led Riku down several streets and alleyways,s too many for Riku to keep track. He could get lost so easily in this city when his feet were on the ground. Deliveries were much easier from his broom. 

But, eventually, Sora slowed down to a stop in front of a large brick building, the sign proudly proclaiming “Cid’s Gummi Garage” 

Without hesitation Sora ran up to the side entrance and opened up, dragging Riku behind him. “Cid! I’m gonna show my friend the secret project!!” 

“What!!” A voice echoed inside. As Riku slipped through the doorway, an older man with greying blond hair and a scruffy beard ducked his head around a doorway. “Oh, it’s just you Sora. That’s fine, but no taking it out for a test spin. You remember what happened last time.” 

“I know,” Sora waved off the concern and pulled Riku deeper into the gummi garage. “Come on! I’ve been working on this ever since I was old enough for Cid to let me work here in exchange for help and parts.” 

“Parts?” Riku asked. “For what?”

“For this!” 

Sora let go of Riku’s hand to wave at the machine in front of him. 

It wasn’t like anything Riku had ever seen. 

It looked like Sora had started with a bicycle, but then started to add wings to it, like a bird. 

“What is it?” 

Sora grinned, running over to straddle the seat of the bicycle. “It’s a gummi glider! Or at least… the start of one. There’s still some, um… issues to work out…” 

Riku smirked, crossing his arms. "I’m guessing those issues presented themselves when you took it for a test flight?” 

Chuckling nervously, Sora rubbed the back of his head. “I was a little eager…” 

Laughing Riku placed his hand on the machine, finding the material firm. He couldn’t imagine it flying anywhere. It looked nothing like his broomstick, nor the birds he had flown with on his way here. But Sora looked so proud of his creation, running a hand over it fondly. “What’s it made out of?” 

"Gummiblocks!” Sora exclaimed, clambering off his flying machine and running to a nearby bin, he pulled out a few strange square-shaped blocks and tossed one to Riku. Instinctively, Riku caught it, finding the material light and spongy. There was no way this was the same material as the flying machine. 

“Come here,” Sora waved him over and encouraged him to place his block on top of a few others. Hesitantly Riku did so, finding that the materials bonded to each other quickly and when he ran a hand back over it, it had firmed up to match the sleek smoothes off the rest of the machine. 

“How?!” It was like magic. It had to be. Was Sora secretly a witch too?

Sora laughed. “Gummi tech! They’re mostly used in cars and zeppelins right now, but with a few different rearrangements, I just know I could make a glider.”

“So you could find out that the clouds are  _ not _ cotton candy?” 

“Oh sure continue to ruin my fun…” Sora pouted, but then turned to Riku and gently shoved him with his shoulder once more. “I just want to fly… like my favorite fairy tale out of that storybook I gave you. The one with the earthbound prince.” 

“Yeah?” Riku’s smile faltered. If he still had his flight magic, he could take sora up there, to his cotton candy clouds. He wondered how happy that would make him. 

Suddenly he felt the warmth of Sora’s hand against his own. “You know, there was a time when I considered giving up all this.” 

“Oh? After your accident?”

Sora shook his head. “No… though I know that’s what everyone thought. But truthfully, I had been feeling pretty burned out before that. I would come in here and put gummi blocks together aimlessly, but nothing felt right and I always felt too embarrassed by it to show sid. I’d find excuses not to visit the shop, I’d barely look at my books about gummi tech. It just felt like I was going through the motions, that it was pointless. I lost my spark.”

Riku reached out, taking Sora’s hand in his own. How’d you reignite it?” 

Sora hummed in thought. “Honestly, I took a long walk… several of them. I focused on some other projects, went on a vacation with friends. Considered even selling the broken machine and starting over if I felt like it. But then… I saw this guy fall out of the sky. He managed to catch himself on his broom before he landed, and he flew off before I could ask for his name.” 

Riku felt his face heat up. “That was weeks before we met.” 

Sora shrugged. “Yeah, but the sight of it inspired me to try again. So that the next time you fell, maybe I could help you. Maybe I could help others.”

Riku’s heart sped up at Sora’s quiet confession and his face grew hot once more. Turning back to the flying machine, Riku looked at it with renewed interest. “Do you want some help?”

Sora’s grin lit up the whole room. “I’d love some!” 

Sora immediately set Riku to work sorting out gummi tech blocks while Sora pulled out his sketches and plans. The work was simple but made fun with Sora’s constant chatter and infectious excitement. As he worked, Riku felt a little invigorated himself. He thought back to his broom and Komory. Maybe his magic was faltering, but that didn’t make him useless. He could help Sora, maybe even mail his mother to potion recipes to try. Mickey still encouraged him to do deliveries on foot… 

His passion for flying was still there, smoldering under the surface. He hoped that one day it would ignite into a flame once more. He hoped that his exhaustion and disinterest would one day fade. 

Looking at Sora’s smile, Riku felt that it one day would. 

Together, they would one day visit those cotton candy clouds. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Please leave a comment if you did! I can't wait to share what else I've got cooking up for kh ghiblifest :D


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